So technically, this is post #100, and I am diligently working on my "100 Things". However, it is one week until Christmas, and I wanted to share my Christmas poem! I don't put up much of my poetry or whatever because I'm a little timid, but this is something I like to hand out to strangers at this time of year. It's better than a tract because it's personal. I've given it out to people I've sat with on airplanes, to cashiers in grocery stores, wherever I connect with a person for a long enough moment so that it's not too awkward. I know I should have kept the poem to about half of the 4-liners there are, but I just kept writing. Hmmm...story of my life!
Hope you enjoy!
Oh, and there have been many, many updates from Victoria's mom on the CarePages website. Sign in and be blown away. That family is amazing. We hope to minister to them, and they minister to us!! Keep praying for Victoria. It looks like the chemo is thrusting her into remission, but that is not an absolute fact yet. And even if remission takes place there may be one or two leukemia cells hidden inside her body among billions of other normal cells, so she will still endure many procedures in the weeks and perhaps months to come. Just...visit their website.
Merry Christmas (er, well, you know!), Blogosphere!!!
A REFLECTION FOR CHRISTMAS
We sing “Silent Night”
And trim up the tree,
Spend hours perfecting
Sweet holiday treats.
We gather with friends,
Throw parties with flare,
Stamp letters to send,
Wrap presents to share.
We play in our mem’ries
Of bundled up youth
And race with toboggans—
Make snow angels, too!
Shortbread and spritz,
We munch with delight,
And brimming tea mugs
Add warmth to the night.
As long as the fireside
Continues to glow,
And long as the rooftops
Are sprinkled with snow,
If harmonies waft
Through radios still
And strangers bid greetings
Of peace and goodwill,
We’ll revive traditions,
Share stories of old,
Tear into packages
Laced with silver and gold.
But what if this season,
Our stockings were bare?
And what if each heart
Like Scrooge, didn’t care?
What would there be, then,
To make Christmas shine,
If hollow were presents,
And drooping were pines?
If snowflakes were square
And berries were white,
If cookies lost sprinkles,
And candy canes, stripes?
If Christmas lost Christ…
How awful to think
We’d abandon our Savior
With hardly a blink,
That holiday fun
And chestnuts that roast
Would become our standard
And matter the most,
That we’d let our hearts
Dwell too much on things,
Instead of adoring
Our Jesus, our King!
Caught up in giving
And getting, perhaps,
He sometimes gets buried
‘Neath ribbon and wrap.
The wonder of Christmas—
When did we let go?
The meaningful story
We loved long ago?
The child in the manger
Whose intent was the cross,
The hope that the season
Too often has lost.
Festivities fade
And candlesticks dim,
Yet something within us
Must turn us to Him.
For in sleigh-bell chimes
And tinsel-tree gleams
In sugar-plum dances
And mistletoe dreams,
Among all the bustle
Beyond credit buys,
And stress from adhering
To advertising lies,
We find only despair
And regret of mistake
When again, we’ve let Christmas
Be observed as a fake.
When our efforts are fixed
On the glittering spruce
We tend not to catch sight
Of this great Christmas truth.
What a treasure it is,
Or should be, to know
That God came to us,
His mercy to show.
The unspeakable gift
Of His heavenly grace
Was received by the meek
In the lowliest place.
That’s just how we ought
To draw near to His birth
He asks not, our wealth,
Our goodness or worth.
If all of the magic
And décor were gone
Erased the commercial,
The apparel, we don,
If, but for a time,
All voices would still,
All hands would unwind,
That our hearts, He might fill.
Whether family is near
Or friends are apart,
If all that we give
Is a worshipful heart,
We’d see that the twinkling
Of lights on display,
Can’t shine near as bright
As the babe on the hay,
That holly and ivy
May garnish the hearth,
But trimming for the soul
Is found in Jesus’ birth,
That the gifts that we give
And the glasses we raise
Are just means to express
His glory and praise.
For the reason we join
Together each year
Is not to lift up
Or honor us here.
It’s Christ that we raise
And His songs that we sing,
Our cheery delight’s,
His love offering.
If we should forget
And make Christmas a day
We set aside faith
And think not to pray,
The joy in our hearts
Would certainly wane
For without God’s Son,
We celebrate in vain.
Without Him, this season
We wouldn’t have peace
And holiday parties
Would soon enough cease.
So this year, let’s look
Beyond pumpkin pies,
Past cranberry tarts
And satisfied sighs,
Let’s continue to sing
And decorate still
Let’s even light candles
And stockings—please fill!
But before we send greetings
And loved ones, embrace,
Let’s fall to our knees
And seek our Lord’s face.
And now we give thanks
For in that silent night,
You birthed into our lives,
Your Grace, Peace, and Light.
This promise brings joy
That we hope will remain
The reason we’ll celebrate
Long past Christmas Day!
Tara (Nelson) Tichner
Copyright 2004
1 comment:
Great poem!
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